Extractor system with a single spring exerting unequal forces upon two firearm extractors



C. H. MORSE Nov. 11, 1969 EXTRACTOR SYSTEM WITH A SINGLE SPRING EXERTI UNEQUAL FORCES UPON TWO FIREARM EXTRACTORS Filed Dec. 28 1967 Inventor= Charles H. Morse.

Attarnegs nited States 3,477,162 EXTRACTOR SYSTEM WITH A SINGLE SPRING EXERTING UNEQUAL FGRCES UPON TWO FIREARM EXTRACTORS Charles H. Morse, Herkirner, N.Y., assignor to Remington Arms Company, Inc., Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 694,130 Int. Cl. F41c 15/02 US. Cl. 4225 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to an extractor system for firearms and particularly to an extractor system for rimfire rifles.

Firearms have long been made with both right and left extractors being actuated by a single spring or by separate but identical springs. Such systems have functioned relatively well but in rimfire rifles that are chambered for different length cartridges problems have arisen. The 22 caliber short cartridge case has a center of gravity close to the head or rim. In firearms with the conventional extractor system the short case when engaged by the ejector becomes free of the right extractor claw before being free of the left hand extractor claw. This resulted in a component of force acting on the case in the direction of into the receiver instead of out of the receiver with the case bounding back in the receiver or spinning around in the action without being thrown out of the receiver port clear of the firearm.

The subject invention contemplates the provision of a band type spring encircling the bolt head of a firearm and engaging and retaining both left and right hand extractor claws in the bolt head. The band type spring is slit at one end making it into a double leaf spring with one leaf considerably narrower than the other. A section of the narrow leaf is removed so that only the wide leaf engages the left hand extractor while the full width of the other end of the spring engages the right hand extractor. This results in a greater spring force being exerted on the right extractor claw than the force exerted on the left extractor claw. When the action opens the case is carried by the extractor rearwardly from the chamber until it engages the ejector which is positioned in the receiver. Upon engagement with the ejector the case is forced free of the left extractor claw before it is forced free of the right extractor claw because of the difference in spring force working on the extractors. This results in a component of force acting on the case in a direction out of the receiver insuring complete ejection of the case out of the receiver.

In firearms having equal spring force on both extractors failures to eject fired cases have been fairly prevalent. This problem is amplified in rirnfire rifles par ticularly when firing 22 caliber short cartridges. Whenever the center of gravity of a fired case is close to the rim or head the failure to eject becomes a serious problem. Such cases quite often fail to clear the ejection port and the shooter must then manually remove the fired case prior to loading the next round in the chamber.

atent It has been found that these failures to eject are caused by the right hand extractor moving out from contact With the case prior to the left hand extractor becoming disengaged from the case. This action results in exertion by the left hand extractor of a component of force acting on the case in a direction to deflect the case into the receiver. This force then prevents the case from clearing the ejection port when the case becomes disengaged from the left hand extractor.

It can, therefore, be seen that the primary object of this invention is to provide an extractor system for firearms that will positively cause fired cases to be ejected through the ejection port at all times.

An additional advantage of this invention is to provide an extractor system for firearms having dilferent spring forces acting on each of the extractor claws.

Another object of this invention is to provide an extractor system for firearms having a single spring which exerts different forces on each of the extractors.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a portion of the receiver section of a firearm including the extractor system with some of the parts broken away for clarity;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the extractor spring;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional top elevation view of the bolt head showing the positioning of the eX- tractor claws and the extractor spring;

FIGURE 4 is a front elevation view of the bolt head showing the positioning of the extractors and the ejector slot; and

FIGURE 5 is a top elevation view of the bolt showing the mounting of the extractor spring.

In FIGURE 1 the drawings illustrate a firearm having a stock 1, barrel 2 and receiver 3. A bolt 4 is mounted in receiver 3 for reciprocal movement therein from an open position as shown to a closed position which is also known as a ready-to-fire position. Bolt 4 has an operating bolt handle 5, a bolt plug or cover 6 and a bolt head 7.

The particular firearm shown is equipped with a tubular magazine 8 which holds cartridges and delivers them to receiver 3. In receiver 3 there are feed lips 9 through which cartridges move from magazine 8 to receiver 3. When bolt 4 is drawn rearward a cartridge in magazine 8 is raised up from lips 9 with the head or rim passing through openings 10 by means of a cartridge lifter 11.

When bolt 4 is moved forward projection 12 engages the feeding cartridge moving the cartridge toward the chamber in the forward section of receiver 3. As the cartridge is fed the rim is engaged by the left hand extractor claw 13 and the right hand extractor claw 14. Extractor claws 13 and 14 are secured to bolt head 7 by means of extractor spring 15 and are free to move outwardly of bolt head 7 against the pressure of spring 15 in slots 16 and 17 so that they will snap over the head of the cartridge 18 and hold the cartridge as shown in FIGURE 3. After firing bolt 4 is drawn rearward and the action of extractors 13 and 14 will draw the fired case out of the chamber and carry it rearward.

An ejector 19 formed in the left hand feed lip projects upward into the ejector slot 20 formed in bolt head 7. As bolt 4 moves rearward carrying the fired case ejector 19 engages the case and cams it out of engagement with extractor 13. At this time the case is still engaged with extractor 14 so that it is given a moment of force in a direction out of port 21 of receiver 3. This force is suflicient to force the case free of extractor 14 and throw it out of port 21 free of the firearm. It should be understood that this action takes place in a very short period of time so that it is almost instantaneous insuring the complete ejection of the fired case.

In order to always make the fired case become free of extractor 13 prior to becoming free of extractor 14 the extractor spring 15 is formed with the configuration shown in FIGURE 2. As can be seen spring 15 is a leaf type spring formed to snap over bolt head 7 and retain extractor claws 13 and 14 in slots 16 and 17 formed in bolt head 7. An opening 22 is formed in bolt head 7 to receiver ends 23 and 24 of the L-shaped extractors 13 and 14. As previously stated, extractors 13 and 14 are positioned in slots 16 and 17 and are retained therein by spring 15.

Spring 15 is slit at one end and aportion of the small resulting leaf 25 is removed so that only the large leaf 26 bears on extractor 13 which is the left hand extractor. The complete other end of spring 15 bears against the right hand extractor 14. Spring 15 is also formed with a tab 27 mid way of its ends. Tab 27 fits in opening 28 in bolt head 7 to retain spring 15 in its proper position on bolt head 7. This opening 28 may conveniently be a part of the slot in which the rimfire firing pin reciprocates.

It can thus be seen that spring exerts unequal force on extractors 13 and 14. As previously stated, the use of equal spring force on both extractors of a system having double extractors leads to failures of eject when cartridge cases are used that have the center of gravity close to the head of the case. Such a problem is amplified in rimfire rifles that are chambered to take 22 caliber long rifle, 22 caliber long or 22 caliber short cartridges. When a spring force is provided that will insure ejection of fired long rifle or long cases, the fired short cases quite often fail to clear the ejection port. This occurs because the case was cammed free of the right extractor prior to being cammed free of the left extractor. This results in the left extractor exerting a force on the fired case in a direction into the receiver and therefore the case fails to be ejected.

In order to insure the ejection of all cases, it has been found that a spring can be provided which exerts different forces on each of the extractors. For example, a spring which exerts a load of 1624 02. on the left extractor and a load of 28-36 oz. on the right extractor will insure the fired case being cammed free of the left extractor prior to it being cammed free of the right extractor. This system will provide a force from the right extractor acting on a fired case in a direction out of the receiver thus completely ejecting any fired case 100% of the time.

It has been found that a leaf spring formed in a generally circular manner to spring around a bolt head to engage both extractors can be modified to provide different loads on each extractor. Such a spring 15 is shown in the drawings. This spring 15 has been slit adjacent one end as shown leaving two leaves of unequal width. The narrower leaf has the end cut off so that only the wider leaf 26 will engage extractor 13 on the left side of bolt 4.

While the instant invention has been shown as being applied to a rimfire rifle, it should be understood that this system will function equally well in any firearm having a reciprocating bolt. The extractor system set forth is described as it would be used for a so-called right hand firearm, that is, a firearm having the ejection on the right side of the receiver. If the ejection port is placed on the left side of the receiver the extraction spring would be snapped on over the bolt head in a reverse manner. This sys- 4' tern will work on any firearm as long as the greatest spring force is exerted on the extractor that is adjacent the ejection port.

What is claimed is:

1. In a firearm having a stock, a receiver with an ejection port for a cartridge formed therein, a bolt with a bolt head for engaging and supporting a cartridge, firing mechanism and a barrel, the invention including an extractor system comprising a left hand extractor and a right hand extractor movably mounted in the head of the bolt of said firearm, an extractor spring arranged to snap on the head of said bolt and extending around said head to engage and retain said extractors on said head, and to urge said extractors into engagement with a cartridge engaged with the bolt head said spring being formed to exert more force on the extractor adjacent the ejection port formed in said receiver than it exerts on the extractor positioned remote from said port.

2. The extractor system set forth in claim 1, wherein said spring is a band type slit at one end leaving two leaves of different widths and having a portion of the end of one of the resulting leaves removed so that only the other of said leaves of said spring will bear on the extractor positioned remote from said port.

3. The extractor system set forth in claiml, including an ejector mounted in said receiver to cam' a fired case out of engagement with the extractor having the least spring force exerted thereon by said spring prior to said case being cammed out of engagement with the other of said extractors.

4. The extractor system set forth in claim 1, wherein, for use in a firearm having the ejection-port positioned on the right side of the receiver, said spring exerts more force on said right hand extractor than it does on said left hand extractor.

5. The extractor system set forth in claim 1, wherein, for use in a firearm having the ejection port positioned on the left side of the receiver, said spring exerts more force on said left hand extractor than it does on said right hand extractor.

6. The extractor system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said spring is a band extending at least half way around the bolt head and having an end portion engaging the right hand extractor and the other end portion engaging the left hand extractor, the effective portion of the end portion of the spring engaging the extractor remote from the ejection port being cut down in cross section to exert less spring force than that exerted by the other end portion of the spring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 601,841 4/1898 McClean 42-25 2,465,553 3/1949 Robinson 4225 2,603,019 7/1952 Elkas 42-25 2,603,020 7/ 1952 Hussey 42-25 FOREIGN PATENTS 617,142 2/ 1949 Great Britain.

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner CHARLES T. JORDAN, Assistant Examiner 

